News & Events-Alumni-The Fuqua School of Business-Duke University

Together with the Daytime MBA program, The Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE), has developed a leadership and ethics curriculum concentration for Daytime MBA students that combines in-class learning with out-of-class experiences to develop team-oriented ethical leaders of consequence. A COLE program that bridges the curricular with the extracurricular is the COLE Leadership Fellows program.

Now in its fourth year, COLE recently selected thirty-four rising second-year students for the 2008-2009 academic year.

“The COLE Leadership Fellows Program engages a select group of Fuqua second-year Daytime MBA students to support Fuqua and COLE’s mission of developing leaders of consequence,” said Sanyin Siang, Managing Director and Senior Research Associate. “Incoming students undergo a leadership core experience (LEO) that provides them the foundation for Fuqua’s leadership and team culture. The COLE Fellows help to foster and reinforce that culture by serving as facilitators and coaches for the first-year student teams.”

Specifically, COLE Fellows help to develop and communicate the leadership message that COLE and the Daytime MBA developed, provide programmatic support for its activities (inside and outside Fuqua), and help generate ideas and build the tools needed for students to develop their personal leadership. Their projects include working with COLE on developing a team feedback tool and a leadership roadmap tool for first-year students in terms 1 and 2, serving as coaches for the 360-degree feedback tool that all first-year students take, and organizing community activities that provide hands-on leadership and teamwork training. For example, in 2006 two COLE Fellows led the development of “At Bat for Habitat,” in which Fuqua MBA students partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Durham to develop a leadership training program around the experience of building a house.

COLE Leadership Fellows undergo intensive training sessions on team facilitation and coaching and apply this learning in their work with incoming first-year students during the first two terms.

COLE Leadership Fellows are selected through a competitive application process that involves peer input based on leadership experience, diversity of leadership style, character, vision, ideas, passion, and commitment. Applications were received from 32 percent of the second-year class. The 2008-2009 COLE Leadership Fellows are: Robin Abramowitz, Dan Aycock, Anupam Bhandar, Bobby Brenman, Vibhor Chhabra, Aman Dhingra, Michael Foss, Pamela Goldberg, Kelly Gyenes, Heather Hennessy, Jeremy Jones, Kat Jones, Amy Laverdiere, Amber Marzuola, David Menon, James Miller, Paul Pidori, Andre Pontes, Matt Pritchard, Martin Quinn, Claire Ramich, Kyle Raver, Vince Rights, Barri Stiber, Steve Misuraca, Samuel Taggard, Lauren Thomas, Ken Tomei, John Troy, Diana Tyler, Miriam Vargas, Bryan Vaughn, Elias Wahesh, and Peter Weld.

As the topic of leadership and ethics at Fuqua becomes increasingly prominent in the curriculum, in discussions, and in practice, the COLE Leadership Fellows Program will continue to work with the administration and student groups to champion and foster discussions at Fuqua. The 2007-2008 COLE Leadership Fellows class was sponsored by a grant from Cushman & Wakefield.

Visit the COLE Web site for information about other COLE programs and upcoming events.

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